Haunted Mansion Archive

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Club Penguin Celebrates Halloween

Club Penguin Halloween Ghosts 300x185 Club Penguin Celebrates Halloween

Halloween is just around the corner and that means an all new adventure at Club Penguin online. Through October 31st, members of Club Penguin can investigate a haunted mansion, hunt for ghosts and possibly even become one.

Club Penguin Halloween Outfit Club Penguin Celebrates Halloween

Here is my penguin in ghost catching outfit with ghost goggles and the Club Penguin 7th anniversary hat.

Long ago, Gariwald VIII went missing along with his mansion. Gariwald has a more than a passing resemblance to his great nephew, Gary the Gadget Guy. Gary gives the player clues to find five keys hidden in the spooky mansion. After finding each uniquely shaped key, the player’s penguin is given Ghost Goggles, presumably invented by Gariwald. When wearing the goggles, ghosts will appear on the screen as well as a special ghost door. Once a penguin enters the ghost door, they receive a new background and access to a special Halloween catalog of items for free and paying members. All members can buy a ghost hunting outfit that contains canisters to throw at ghosts to catch them. Paid members can enter a device that looks very similar to the Lazarus machine in Casper and get turned temporarily into a ghost. All members might also find themselves face to face with the ghost of Gariwald himself.

Club Penguin Halloween Ghost Door 272x300 Club Penguin Celebrates Halloween

The Famous Ghost Door

However, it also enjoyable just to explore Gariwald’s estate which resembles a more famous haunted mansion on Disney property, complete with graveyard, set dining room table and a crystal ball that looks just ready for Madame Leota to come. There’s no official word on whether there are 999 ghosts haunting this mansion.

Club Penguin Halloween Haunted Mansion 300x221 Club Penguin Celebrates Halloween

All it needs is the Hidden Mickey and some waltzing ghosts…

Club Penguin has also kept the annual Halloween traditions of decorating everywhere, having Trick or Treat at what is normally snow forts and showing the scary short film series, Night of the Living Sled.

Did you visit ClubPenguin.com? Did you spot the glass hearse in front of the run down gate?

Do you like Disney using its attractions in other media? Which attractions would you like to see in penguin form in the future?

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Your Host, Your Ghost Host

stretchroom 300x300 Your Host, Your Ghost Host“Welcome, Foolish Mortals.”

It’s a great line. Most who have visited Disney recognize it immediately, and for most of us, just reading the line in print summons up the amazing voice of Paul Frees in our memories.  It’s the opening of the Haunted Mansion, the beginning of an adventure…

…and it’s our introduction to our highly ambiguous host…our Ghost Host.

From the time guests see the Haunted Mansion through their time in its foyer, there is a building sense of foreboding. Of course, for theme park guests well acquainted with the attraction they’ve just entered, the foreboding is obvious…this is the Haunted Mansion. But beyond the outside knowledge, there are the remarkable sets, the dour butlers and maids, the hanging cobwebs and sepulchral music.  But, with the exception of the sign on the way in, how do we know exactly what we’ve gotten into?  We need a guide, someone to tell us what on earth is happening and guide us on our way.

The Ghost Host (self-identified), serves that function, acting as the unseen host for guests visiting the Haunted Mansion.  He joins the Hitchhiking Ghosts as being one of the few spooks to directly interact with guests, but unlike the Hitchhiking Ghosts, it is not easy to get a “fix” on his intentions.  The Hitchhikers are playful, whimsical; the ghost host is…well…what exactly is he?

From his opening line, X Atencio’s script for the Ghost Host places him firmly in uncertain territory.  He greets us, yet makes fun of us by calling us “Foolish,” and immediately separates himself from us “mortals.”  He doesn’t seem to be on our side, but he is guiding us, right?  Well, actually, he’s hosting us, which by definition means he’s entertaining us while we’re in the house.  That’s not quite the same as guiding…hosting could mean he wants us to stay…

So what do we actually know about our “friendly” Ghost Host – perhaps the most developed and yet most ambiguous character in the Mansion?

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